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Albert County's geological
formation covers the Pre Cambrian to Triassic periods. Albertite is found in
the Mississippian Albert Shale. Its discovery is a matter of dispute and
folklore. Local tradition is that albertite was discovered by Gould Hoar, in
Hopewell Parish, about 1820, some twenty years before Gesner's mention of it at
Frederick's Brook:
"The deposit was found uncovered, under an uprooted tree, an ore body
ten feet square, in a densely wooded section."
Over the next century and a half, others; the Duffy brother's John and Peter,
Abraham Gesner, and Robert Foulis, would all lay claim to or be credited with,
the discovery of albertite. Albertite was mined from 1849 until about 1884,
with sporadic exploration and mining continuing until the early decades of this
century. Writers have intimately tied together Gesner, his invention of
kerosene , and albertite. It was not until recently that the prominent roles of
Edward Allison, Dr. Charles T. Jackson, Robert Foulis, and others, were
explored.
)
One of the
earliest articles on the Albert Mines story was written by Joseph S. Knowles in
1906. He wrote to the Saint John Daily Telegraph in response to a recent
article about the rediscovery of albertite and the commencement of mining
operations. Knowles was able to offer a unique historical perspective -
I remember very distinctly when the first specimens were brought to St.
John, as well as a few interesting facts about this wonderful deposit.
The story said that it was in 1854 when Mr. Duffy brought a specimen of
albertite to his father's store at South Market wharf in Saint John. Knowles
remembers
its bright, glassy appearance resembling jet, and as I held a piece of it
over the gas light, it burned as easily as sealing wax.
Knowles also introduced three of the minor players in the albertite story. John
Walker, Robert Jardine and John Duncan, directors of the Saint John Gas Light
Company and prominent businessmen, traveled to Albert Mines in 1855 to examine
albertite's potential for making gas. They were not impressed. Knowles did
mention the involvement of Edward Allison and James deWolfe Spurr as
manufacturers in Saint John of ‘Albertine' oil, but did not allude to any
other involvement by Allison. The article also stated that albertite was mixed
with English Newcastle coal for making gas.
Up to this point Knowles gave the impression that albertite was mined for
domestic consumption but after a while that they [the New York owners] could
dispose of it for oil-making purposes to more profitable advantage in the
United States, and cut off the supply here. Not only did albertite continue to
be available to New Brunswickers, but was exported to the United States from
the time it was first brought to the surface.
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